ONE CABLE MITTS KNITTING PROJECT

That pesky 30x30 is nipping at my heels. I did a formal count the other day, and have officially crossed off 11 of the items, with another 3 in the works. To spur me along, I got started on yet another  one of the easier tasks over the weekend. 

Knittin' season

I know Sina hates that I think it's fall already, but when I've done my fantasy football draft, and officially had a lazy Sunday afternoon watching the game, that's when I know fall has arrived. But I don't like just watching football, I need something to busy myself, and taking up that pesky knitting project on my 30x30 seemed just the way to pass the time. Now, I've knit a couple other things in the past, but they usually were a lone mitten (I lose steam after one), or a hat barely big enough for a baby. (I'm a pretty tight knitter.)

To my delight I very quickly found this simple and small pattern, which I'm still working on, but wanted to show you. I'll have at least one finished product by the weekend if all goes according to plan, and if it looks good that will encourage me to make the other. The pattern is FREE! Which is always awesome, and relatively easy to follow. It's categorized as "advanced beginner" and I would consider that accurate. 

Although you can't see the cabling in the picture, it is on the inside of this mitt, and it's looking pretty good. I'm really looking forward to being able to turn it right side out. But I'm kind of nervous about completing the thumb... 

The halfway point. More or less...

Anyone else starting a fun knitting project? Any tips? I chose the gray so that it would match pretty much everything. Would you try a brighter color like the pattern suggests?

DREAM DINNER PARTY

After my attempt at mojitos earlier this week, I was inspired to continue on in my quest to complete that darn 30x30. One of the more attainable items is to host a dinner party. I'm talking like a fancy, adult dinner party, for 6-8 people, for no particular reason other than an excuse to be fancy. Ideally, it would be to celebrate a new job or something, but failing that, simply for fun.

This dinner party isn't something I could throw together in the span of two days, but I decided that in order to get the creative juices flowing I'd make up a couple of mood boards with ideas for my "dream" dinner party. To make some of this a reality I know moderate crafting will be required, and you'll reap the benefits of that as well. I'll fill you in on all the steps. My aim is to throw the actual party towards the end of August, and until then slowly complete trial runs of the meal components and create the invitations and decorations. Perhaps I'll call those posts the Dinner Party Series.

At any rate, here is the inspiration I'm starting with. Whether I make these exact things is yet to be decided, but this is what I'm starting with. I'm a big fan of the gray and teal combination so that's probably the color scheme I'll go with, adding a bit of pink in as well.

I found the invitations here. I want something relatively simple, basically a nice design on simple paper and I think these will achieve that. If I can figure out how to make them myself, it will be a bonus.

I'm also a big fan of these DIY place cards, which look like they'll be relatively simple to make. And reusable.

I recently went to a bachelorette party where they made use of the tissue paper pom pom, and I think this would be a perfect opportunity to use some myself. So whether I go for the lanterns, the pom poms, or both remains to be seen. But at least one will make an appearance.

For another accent color I might go for the bright pink. After looking at Sina's pink post the other day, I was definitely loving pink again. And I think it would go great with the teal. And speaking of teal, these mason jars are great. If I have it outside, these are a strong possibility also.



My goal is to do a proper four course meal. (More or less.)

Appetizers: Something similar to these guacamole cups. Light but delicious.

Starter: I want to do something more than a salad, but nothing too heavy, so for now I'm thinking a caprese salad. I like the look of two different colored tomatoes in this salad.

Main: For the main course I'd like to do something affordable, somewhat creative, and most of all, easy to prepare when guests are present. This led me to something similar to these pot pies. I'll have to try them to see just how easy they are, but they look fantastic.

Dessert: It was recommended to me to try a sorbet for the dessert, which sounds like a lovely choice. I might pair it with a vanilla wafer to give it some substance, but this strawberry mango sorbet is what I'm thinking so far.


For more details on these ideas and more, check out the Pinterest Board I made. And of course, follow us on Pinterest for all the latest!

Follow You Me Oui Blog's board DINNER PARTY IDEAS on Pinterest.
Any tips or tricks for hosting a dinner party?

DRINK UP: THE MOJITO (PT 1)

Ok everyone, remember a couple months ago when I told you about all those things I want to do by the time I'm 30? Well, I finally got around to working on one of them tonight. My mixed drink mastering. The sad news is, I didn't walk away with a winner. But I did walk away with some lessons learned, and some mojito remnants on the keys of my laptop, apparently.   

Since I was ultimately unsuccessful in my mastery for this round, I'll just tell you how I got started, and basically review the drinks I tried. 

I want my drink to be mojito-based, shall we say, but not necessarily a classic mojito, because that's a bit boring. Something with a twist will be nice. So anyway, I went for a classic, just for practice, a strawberry, and a champagne mojito. 

CLASSIC MOJITO:

So Classic

There are a million recipes out there for a classic mojito. I took mine from this blog, with one minor change - I substituted tonic water for the club soda, upon request of my test subjects. I'll explain how that request came about when discussing the strawberry mojito. 

The classic was the favorite. That tells me I should've started there. One thing I would probably also do next time, and contemplated doing this time, was making a mint infused simple syrup. I've made it lately for a couple different lemonades and it's good, I was just kind of lazy today. And since none of the recipes I found included it, I justified leaving it out. Ultimately, I'm hoping that will be my game changer in the next test run. 

CHAMPAGNE MOJITO:

Champagne Mojito

The recipe for the champagne mojito is one that I found on Pinterest as part of a list of ten different mojitos, all compiled from different blogs. I thought it sounded unique, and figured splurging on a cheap bottle of champagne while trying to fool my friends was time and money well spent. And it turns out, I was right! Now, I'll be the first to admit I don't know what the essence of a mojito is. I'm not sure what ingredients have to be included for the name to still stand. But I will tell you, there is no rum in this one. And I didn't realize that until I was making it. I assumed (because I didn't fully read the directions, just the ingredients) that it would be a combination of champagne and rum, with the champagne as a partial or whole substitute for club soda/tonic water. Not the case.

This was the clear favorite between the two non-classic mojito offerings. In fact, when the testing was done I made myself a larger one with a few of my leftover strawberries dropped in, just for good measure. Deliciousness.

STRAWBERRY MOJITO:

Strawberry Mojito

I got this final recipe here, and it's been sitting on my Pinterest drinks board for quite some time now, just begging to be tried. The execution was simple and straightforward, although I was getting a feel for making sample sizes based on instructions for whole pitchers. And I was measuring sans shot glass, since apparently my sister has purged her collection entirely. Now, this recipe I did not substitute anything, I followed it exactly. 

And I got some complaints. I found it to be a bit watery and bitter, and my sister gladly offered up her stash of tonic water, because she was not a fan of the club soda. I probably could've added a bit more sugar which might have helped, or allowed it to combine in the fridge for a bit. But I think the idea is to drink them freshly made, so that shouldn't be necessary. 

FOR THE FUTURE: 

I'll definitely be making a mint simple syrup. That will be the easiest way to sweeten and add mint to the drinks as needed. Also figuring out the lime ratio might be nice. The criticism of the classic was that it tasted a lot like a gin and tonic, which everyone else enjoyed but me. And no one was blown away by any of them. 

But you know what they say, practice makes perfect!

Have any mojito tips for my second trial run? I certainly need them!

LIFE HACKS: 30X30

Photo from glassofwin.com

I'm sure many of you are familiar with the modern version of the "Bucket List" which takes the original concept and centers it around a particular life milestone. Now, I wish I'd thought of/been motivated to make one of these lists a couple years ago, so that my goals could've been a bit more dramatic (travel, extreme sports, a big move). As it stands, I made my 30x30 list in January of this year, and I turn 30 in September (shhh, don't tell anyone), so I was more limited by what is actually possible for me to accomplish in 12 months. Nevertheless, a few other friends made these lists as well, and it's been fun to share our goals and periodically check in. This first entry I'm doing will be a bit more about the types of goals I chose, and about the ones I completed so far. I'll keep you posted in the future as to whether I'll be making all of my goals a reality. Full disclosure, my plan is to take the entire year (until December 31st) since I didn't start my list until 4 months into my 29th year, and I just think that is more realistic.

I found the most effective way to envision my 30x30 was to use a mind map, the concept of which was first introduced to by my roommate. They allow you to center your largest goal or topic in the middle of the map, and branch out from the center. The best site I found so far is MindMeister which is free to sign up for and has some pretty good features as far as customizing your map. If you're not familiar with a mind map, here's what they look like:

Photo from: examtime.com

Given my situation at the time that I made the list, I also had a lot of attainable but somewhat basic goals: finding a job I enjoy, getting health insurance, moving out on my own. All of these are yet to be achieved, but I'm moving in the right direction. And I feel like this list is a helpful push.

Me with a new job and health insurance

I also added some fun little things that I want to do, which aren't incredibly difficult, but I never make time for: hosting a dinner party, perfecting a fun cocktail, complete a race, and volunteering more often.

I will definitely be making posts regarding the dinner party and cocktail, which I still haven't gotten around to completing, but both will make perfect summer activities.

Photo from FridayCommunityCocktail.com

The last category of goals I would classify as personal improvement goals: dating, making small talk with others (not always my favorite) and finding new friends. When I achieve these goals, if I do it in a new and interesting way, I will definitely blog about it. Although I'd say some of my tips from my job search post were great starting points.

Have you thought about making a list like this? Have you already made one and/or completed it? What did/would you include? Tell us about it!